Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo and Co. is property of Pioneer and AIC. Umm, I should just warn you that this is a very dark fanfic. Everything that goes on in this story is my idea, and I hope that if anyone from Pioneer or AIC are reading this, they don't sue me. You have been warned. Prelude to the Mind's Eye By Michael, the Heartless Reaper Darkness had settled over the Masaki house. No one even bothered to find out what was going on. Tenchi was in his room, writing in his journal. "I'm afraid." That was all he wrote, before Ayeka came in to ask a favor. "Can you create me a music CD with these tracks on it," she said, handing Tenchi a list. A surge of unsure feelings overcame Tenchi, as he looked over the list. "Smashing Pumkins? Metallica? Pachelbel? Bach?" Tenchi thought. "Who were these people? What exactly do they sing," he continued thinking, but then he realized that he had only heard of Dyers Eve, and non of the other songs. "I will," Tenchi said, turning on his computer. Ayeka left. She ran into her room and started weeping on the floor. Without any trouble, Tenchi found the songs she wanted and put them on a CD. He went to give the CD to Ayeka, but only left it outside her door. She heard his footsteps, and went to see weather he was there or not. Tenchi had left, walking down the dark hallway, leading himself on an endless drudge to his room. Ayeka took the CD and put it in her CD player. She sat all night and listened to it. She sat and wept. Her tears were of pure salt. She lay there like a dieing goddess, with tears running from her face, leaving her in a serene state. The morning came, and she took a pair of black pants, and a black shirt. She applied black makeup, and dyed her hair from a shade of purple to pure black. Her hair was ravenous, and foreboding. Ryoko and Sasami noticed her not doing any work. Ryoko, taking Ayeka's place in doing housework, was quite concerned for her rival. Ayeka had left for the city, to purchase some stuff for her own personal use. With the changes in the first royal princess of Jurai's behavior, everyone was very concerned. Kastuhito was concerned for his blood relative. Sasami was concerned for her sister. Washuu was concerned for Ayeka's well being. Ryoko was concerned for her archrival. Azaka and Kamidake were concerned for their master. Kiyone and Mihoshi were also concerned for the well being of the princess. Tenchi was concerned for everything that would happen. Ayeka had grown distant from everyone, and she brought Sasami with her. Sasami had stopped being the cheery housewife of the Masaki's and had Tenchi send her to school. Ayeka didn't even speak to anyone. She sat reading the works of Poe, the maddening plays of Shakespeare, and anything that involved the darkness. She wrote poems about her sick and twisted life. Everything she had ever done was turned into a poem, about her own downfall. She always went to the lake behind the house, and cried herself to sleep. No one knew what went on in her warped mind. Finally she snapped. She fell sick, only a few days before Tenchi's 18th birthday. Nobiuki had taken everyone but Aykea out to celebrate. No one felt right about leaving Ayeka alone, but she said that she would be fine. Mustering up all of her strength, Ayeka took what she had bought at the mall a long time ago and placed it in a black silk bag. She then brought the bag, the CD, he CD player and some speakers to the woman's bath. She placed the speakers and CD player down. She placed the bag on the ground and walked to her room. She took off her clothing, and admired her beauty. No one would ever be able to see it again. She looked at herself in a mirror, and realized that Tenchi, her beloved Tenchi, would never be able to have her as a wife, a lover, and a companion. She slowly walked to her deathbed. Upon entering the bath, she opened the bag. She pulled out 20 blood red candles, and placed them all around the bath. She lit each one, and placed the CD player in a repeat mode. She sat and listened to the first track, Unforgiven. The room seemed to shrink, making the room look like a normal bathroom, with her in the tub. The dimensional tub had disappeared, leaving Ayeka in the men's bath. She took the knife, and slit her wrists. The blood came out slowly, letting Ayeka savor her last few minutes alive. The blood started to flow out faster and faster. Her long raven black hair had turned crimson red, with strands of black hanging out. The water turned into a crimson red sea, like the Nile, after the summoning of the first plague. Ayeka lied there. She lied like a dead goddess. No tears came down her face, as her life flashed by her. She finally had reached what Dante called purgatory, waiting to be thrown into her own personal hell. Tenchi and his family got back in the wee hours of the morning, only to find the house extremely quite. Tenchi was the only sober person awake. Everyone fell asleep on the sofa. Tenchi walked upstairs to check on Ayeka. He was shocked to see she wasn't in her room. All he found was her clothing that she had worn earlier, before he had gone out. He ran out of the house and shouted for Azaka and Kamidake. They came to him. "Where is Ayeka? Where is she?" Tenchi asked quite scared and afraid. "We don't know. We were watching you. Ayeka sent us to guard you. I don't..." Azaka said, but Tenchi cut him off. He told the two logs to leave and go to the shrine. Tenchi walked into the house and went to the bathroom. He opened the door, and to his surprise, he saw a pool of dark crimson blood, with Ayeka in it. Her hair was turned to a blackish crimson color. Only one candle remained lit. Only one song was playing. Unforgiven played in the speakers. Tenchi sat on the floor and started crying. He was pale white. His complexion made him look like a ghost. He was shaking all over. All he could do was cry. She had killed herself, and there was nothing that he could have done to stop it. Ayeka would have done this sooner or later. Sasami was the first to wake, and heard the sound of Tenchi crying. She went to see what was happening, but fell to her knees crying. Slowly everyone woke and came to experience the horrible site of Ayeka's body. Everyone slowly woke, only to gather around Ayeka's dead body. One by one, everyone left, leaving Tenchi in the bathroom. "I could end it all right here," he thought as he took the bloodstained knife. "No, I won't there is so much I need answered," he contiued thinking, as he took knife and placed it into the bag. He took it into Ayeka's former room, along with her CD player and speakers. He took all of her books, skimming through them, as he put them in boxes and carried them to the attic. He threw the knife in one of the boxes prommising himself that he would never look at those works. Ayeka's funeral happened only a few days later. She was buried by the lake, leaving everyone asking why. Sasami came under the care of the Masaki family. Ryoko and Washuu stayed to help Tenchi and his family. Kiyone and Mihoshi left for Jurai, to inform the emperor of Aykea's death. They took Azaka and Kamidake with them, so they could be assigned a new person to guard. Emperor Azusa left them to stay in the palace, for it would be better for Sasami to remain in the care of Tenchi. Nobiyuki had started drinking, and Lord Katsuhito had become very quite, meditating over everything. He remained in the shrine for most of the time. Before Katsuhito decided to spend the rest of his life living in the shrine, he called in a favor from the government. They allowed us to live on this land, without having to pay taxes, or anything. They also gave them 10 thousand yen a month as support. Years passed, and everything seemed to go back to normal. Ryoko had changed. She wasn't the rude and selfish pirate she once was, but she was active in her surrogite daughter's life. Ryoko had become very active in doing the housework and preparing dinner, as well as Sasami's schoolwork. Her frame of mind changed. She never used her powers or even thought about fighting. There were things more important to her now. Deep inside of her, she was a mess. All she though about when no one was around was who come she wasn't blessed with the power to go back in time to tell Ayeka that she was sorry. "Sasami was just so young, she was ten. I just wish she couldn't have seen this." Ryoko said to herself, looking at Ayeka's grave. "Why? Why did you have to do this? You don't know what you did. I...I...I... couldn't even apologize for doing everything wrong. Right now, I have a feeling that you are listening to that song Tenchi found you listening to. I still want to apologize, for I should be called unforgiven. I just can't imagine life for Sasami without you," Ryoko said, crying. Tenchi came to visit, and saw Ryoko crying. Doing the only thing he could, he attempted to comfort the space pirate. He was barely able to, but he was too late to stop Sasami. It was eight years after her sister's death. She was the next in line for the thrown, and she was a straight A student. She had grown up to be more beautiful then not only her sister, but Ryoko as well. Every guy in her class had a crush on her. One day, she found her sister's CD, books and writings while exploring the attic for old junk to look at. She also found the knife her sister used to kill herself with. Sasami had taken them, and hid them in her room. She started dressing in black, and she was becoming the genius loner of her grade. She was the darkest yet brightest student in all of her high school. After studying every night, she read some of her sister's dark poetry, her books and listened to that one CD. She would spend endless nights writing poems even worse than her sister's. She was very unhappy about the idea of her turning into Tsunami, so she never had any agreement with the transformation. Every guy had even more of a crush on her, after her dark transformation, but she turned them all down. One afternoon, a friend of hers offered her a joint. She smoked it, and took some home. Tenchi noticed the smell of some sort of cigarette on her breath as she came in for dinner. After a quite dinner, Sasami went to her room, took a joint, and went to the grave of her sister. She lit the joint, and wondered what would happen to her. "So, I read your poems, and I wrote poems like yours and worse. I read the works of Poe, Dante and Shakespeare. I have done everything you have, and I turning into you. Why did you have to do that? If only you had been alive," she said, looking remorsefully at the grave. The image of her sister's death was all too vivid in her mind. She just sat and smoked her joint, as Tenchi and Ryoko entered her room. "It looks just like Ayeka's room. This seems just like her room was before I went to place her stuff in the attic," Tenchi said, feeling a chill run down his back. "It is just so scary. I just can't help shake this foreboding feeling that we shouldn't be in here. I just don't know..." Ryoko said quite unhappily, before Tenchi cut her off. "We are doing this for the good of Sasami. I smelt something like cigarette smoke on her breath. I want to check it our. Hey look over there," Tenchi said, pointing at her desk. They walked over and found a bag of joints on it. They took the bag. Sasami came back and was surprised that she thought she misplaced her joints. "Sasami, we need to talk," a voice said, coming towards her. Ryoko materialized in front of her. "Are you okay honey? You are really scaring Tenchi and myself. Please, if there is anything wrong, tell us. I am always here for you," Ryoko said, and as Tenchi guessed, Sasami told her nothing was wrong. "Anyway, before I go," Ryoko said, "Tenchi noticed the smell of something like cigarettes or something like that, maybe a cigar or a blunt, in your breath. What can you say about that?" "You know I don't smoke. Why would you ask me something like that?" "Ryo-oh-ki found these on your desk, when she came to check on you. She brought them to us, and we are concerned for you. Now, are you smoking these?" "No, I am not. I have never even smoked before." "Then tell me, why do you have these?" "A friend asked me to hold on to them for her. Is that enough, now go," Sasami said, throwing Ryoko out of her room. It was only a few days later that Nobiyuki died of liver poisoning, from all of the alcohol he drank. Tenchi was quite upset, and Lord Katsuhito only moved himself farther from his grandson. Tenchi buried his father next to his mother's grave. This pushed Tenchi closer to the edge. Every day, he was one step closer to cracking. Even with using his Juraian powers, his strength and mental stability was no match for loss of two loved ones, and the knowledge that he was going to loose one of the only two people that mattered to him, Sasami. Only time would tell when that grim night would be. Both he and Ryoko knew that they couldn't watch Sasami all the time. They knew, and did nothing for she would have done it elsewhere. Every day, he woke up and ran. He ran for miles, and miles, and then he returned. He was a loving father, even though he was never credited. He carried the burden of the Masaki Family by himself. There were those that tried to help, but they couldn't even get through to Tenchi. For him, there was no real use in trying to speak to grandfather or Washuu. No one knew what was going on. Sasami was becoming very much like her sister. She was becoming very less apt in helping around the house. She was never cheerful, and was always staying in her room. Tenchi only had Ryoko to cling on to, and she only had him. As the time went on, Sasami had been getting the strange feeling that it was time for her to change into Tsunami, or it was really the will of Tsunami, but she refused. Eight years passed from that awful day. It was very close to the eight-year anniversary of her sister's death. She thought it was the right time, and there would be no way Tsunami would stop it. After school one day, she went to the mall to get candles, and a crimson red and raven black kimono. She would die like her sister. On the night of her sister's death, she took that CD, her candles and her boom box to the bathroom. Washuu never fixed the dimensional bath, so in the end; Sasami would die like her sister. She set up the bathroom, with 20 candles, black and red, in an alternating pattern. She took out the knife her sister used. She walked back to her room, and stripped off her clothing, like her sister, she admired her body and realized that no one would ever get to see her naked figure, except for Tenchi and Ryoko, but that would only be after her death. She put on her red and black kimono, and dyed her hair black. From the shade of lovely blue, to the dark, ravenous and horrid color of black, she dyed her hair, to look just like Ayeka. No one ever mentioned her name, and it was only after eight years that Sasami decided to join Ayeka. She walked down to the bathroom. She lit her black and red candles. She then turned on the music. Slipping off her kimono, she walked into the water. She let the water cover her, until the third track played, Unforgiven II. She took the knife and slit her wrists, like her sister before her. The crimson red blood had turned Sasami's hair to a pure crimson red. The blood turned the water to a dark crimson. Her last words were in sync with the end of the song, "I bury this key in you, because you're unforgiven too." As she died, she saw her life flash by. At the end of the road, Ayeka was there ready to greet her younger sister. Lord Katsuhito had realized that he was too old to live. He knew that it would have been impossible to make it up to Tenchi, so he took out his old Samurai Swords and committed seppuku, the ritual suicide of the Samurai. When the day came upon Ryoko and Tenchi, they heard the faint sounds of music from the bathroom. Ryoko went to drag Washuu from her lab but she wasn't there. Tenchi went to check where the music was coming from and he fell to his knees. He saw Sasami, lying in the bath, like her sister. Her hair was pure crimson, and in place of Unforgiven, Unfogiven II played. Tenchi sat crying, only Ryoko came to join him, for Washuu had felt the death of her sister, Tsunami, and took her spirit back to her tree. She moved there to keep her sister's soul company. Feeling the need to speak about this to his grandfather, Tenchi went to the shrine. There was no sound coming from anywhere in the shrine, and he went to Katsuhito's room. To his shock, he saw Lord Katsuhito lying on the ground, dead. He had committed seppuku. This sent Tenchi not only over the edge, but spiraling down the rabbit hole, like Alice, and her quest for the white rabbit. Without the sounds of Tenchi and Katsuhito returning to the house, Ryoko went to check on them. All she heard was crying. She followed the sounds of tears to Tenchi and his grandfather. She made a major attempt to comfort Tenchi. It worked, and they buried Sasami next to Ayeka, and Katsuhito next to Nobiyuki and Achika. The only thing that Ryoko could do was bring Tenchi to Emperor Azusa and tell him about the loss of a daughter and a son, whom they both missed. This was done, and Azusa made Tenchi the next heir to the thrown. Tenchi married Ryoko, and then they took what ever they needed and wanted to keep from the shrine and the old Masaki house, and left for Jurai. No one ever saw Tenchi, except for his wife, Ryoko and their son, whom they named Katsuhito Nobiyuki Masaki, in reverence to Tenchi's father and grandfather. Tsunami was allowed to take Katsuhito to be her new form, but she would take the mind, in place of his body. Legend had said that Emperor Masaki had ruled with compassion and justice for he had lost almost all that he clung to, and others say he is still recovering from aftershock of the death and loss of most of his family. There are few that say he lives in the palace, wandering aimlessly, as an old recluse, who still sits in his mind's eye, looking for a way to escape that snapping point in his life. Legend also said that he never took out any aggression on anyone, and took Azaka and Kamidake to be his liege. "Tenchi," Ryoko said, looking out into the black on night, from the roof of the royal palace, "I want to help you, please let me in, let me cure you. I really want to." She started crying, and was tapped on the shoulder by her son, who had floated down next to her. "Mom," her child asked, "why is daddy so upset? Did I do anything wrong? I want to know. Can you tell me anything? What is that book that dad always writes in, and never ever lets anyone see what's inside?" "Your quite inquisitive tonight," Ryoko said, laughing. She smiled, looking down at her son. She kissed him on the forehead. "All right, first of all, I don't know what's a matter with daddy. All I know is that he isn't mad at you or me. All I can tell you is that your great grandmother Washuu would know, but I haven't seen her since, well a long time ago. I just don't remember when it was. All I know is that I was staying with your father, and well, he tried to keep our house back on earth up and running. He just never, well, let anyone inside of him, after, well, after his 18th birthday. And about that book, it's his journal. He has let me read it. When your older, and your father has given you the thrown, you will be able to see and understand the writings in his journal." "Oh, okay. Mom, someone came by the palace a few minutes ago, before I came to talk to you, wanting to speak with you. I didn't get her name, but she was a galaxy police officer. That's all I know." "Was she blond?" Katsuhito had inadverintly told her that Kiyone and Mihoshi were here. This would have been a good time to see her old friends, but they would not have been any help. "No, she wasn't. I think..." Katsuhito started to say, but was cut off by her mother's teleportation to greet the cop. Katsuhito teleported to his room, where he sat waiting for his father to come in, to kiss him good night. "Empress Ryoko, I haven't seen you in over, well since I left earth. Mihoshi and I were transferred to another station, and Mihoshi was killed after trying to capture the most wanted criminal in the galaxy, well that is, after your formal pardoning by the former emperor, Azusa. I caught her, and was promoted to the chief of internal affairs. Seeking leave, I came to visit. How is Tenchi? Shouldn't Sasami..." Kiyone said, before she was cut off by the sounds of Ryoko's cries. "Eight years. Eight years was all it took for him to crack. This is the day, only 32 years after, the eight years after Ayeka's death. A lot happened in those eight years. Nobiyuki took on drinking, Katsuhito had become distant, and Sasami, oh Sasami. Everything in his world crumbled. We only had each other, and we became man and wife. Sasami and Katsuhito had died on the same day, and Nobiyuki, only a few days earlier. Washuu had left us for the tree of Tsunami, and we were all alone with Ryo-oh-ki. Sasami killed herself, like Ayeka did only eight years prior, and Katsuhito committed seppuku, for a reason we don't know. Both Tenchi and myself have read all of both Ayeka's and Sasami's works. We could never let them leave us, so we kept them in the private sanctum of the palace. Only we have access to it. Not even our son knows about this. Why did you come back? You left us to live in a life of horror, we could have used the extra help, but no one would even care. Tenchi worked and tried to be as fatherly as he could. Why? Why didn't you come back?" Ryoko said, crying on the floor. "Get out," Ryoko said, growling. "Get out," she yelled at the top of lungs. "It's alright, I invited her here. Can you go tuck in Katsuhito, and tell him that I had something to take care of," a faint voice said. "Yes dear, I will for you. I will speak to you later though," Ryoko said. She calmed down and followed her husband's request. As Ryoko left, Tenchi stepped forward. He was wearing a black robe, and his face was hidden under the hood. "We must talk inside the palace, where no one will find us. There are a few rooms where we can be, that Ryoko doesn't know about," he said, leading Kiyone to one of his own personal studies. He removed the hood, only to reveal the face of a young angel with a pure white goatee. She studied his face and all she could tell was that he was extremely serious. "Why did you ask me to come here tonight? Of all the nights, why this one? I have only one question, why," Kiyone asked, expecting a straightforward answer. She got no such thing. "Please go to earth and plant these yourself. You must plant these five seeds. Two go near the graves by the lake, and three go by the graves of my parents. There are no questions asked. You are the only one who can do this. Don't ask why, because you never experienced the pain that my wife and myself went through. We couldn't send Washuu, so that leaves you. Now go, and take the fastest ship we have. It should make in about two hours. The time is short so go." Tenchi handed her the seeds, and Kiyone left to do her task. She arrived at earth only two hours later. She landed near the Masaki house to see if anyone was in there, but no one was. The shrine and graves were all still intact, and she did her task. She walked inside the house, looking at the emptiness of the house. She left, promising her self that she would never return. As she left, she saw the seedlings grow to full trees, and form a beautiful crystalline casing around them. Tenchi knew she had done this. He went to the thrown to meet Ryoko. He stood at the center of the thrown room. All they saw was a flash. Everything froze before their faces. Everything was now left to the mind's eye... To be continued This was my first fanfic, so if you have any questions or comments, write me. I really want to hear what you think. Please write what you thought about this, and what your reactions were. E-mail me at TheHeartlessReaper@hotmail.com. First of all, for everyone that didn't like this, it was a crossbred fanfic. It applies the elements from different aspects of the Tenchi Muyo Series (OAV, Pretty Sammy, Tenchi TV {Tenchi Universe} and Tenchi in Tokyo {Shin Tenchi}). A crossbred fanfic could also be done for other anime like El Hazzard, where there are noticeable differences between different forms of the story in the different series. This happens when there are multiple series that use the same charicters, but the plot line differs from each series. For those that didn't like it, well tough, that's my style. Second, this story was inspired by many things. For the most part, Metallica's music was the inspiration, as given reference to Dyers Eve, Unforgiven and Unforgiven II, as well as many other songs like Master of Puppets and From Whom the Bell Tolls. The Smashing Pumpkin's album, Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness, also had an effect on this fanfic. Bach's Toccatta and Fuege played with brass instruments and his sonatas, his preludes and Pachelbal's Cannon were all important in this fanfic. The mind is just as powerful as the soul, if not more powerful. This is only the beginning...